Chapter No.50.

Chara remained at the stasis chamber that contained her only true human friend. It's the first time she felt fear, and she hated it, but there was nothing else she could do. It was all up to the nanobots. Her relationship with Ryan had been contentious at best, but she had managed to find a common ground, so to speak, with him. Now, her life was at a crisis point. She needed to save him so that she and her android sisters could finally accomplish their ultimate goal of making contact with an alien robotic species like her and her sisters.

When she saw his eyes flick open, Chara smiled. It was the first sign that he was still alive. She quickly tapped on the controls to release him from the stasis chamber.

Ryan wasn't sure where he was at first, but he soon realized that he had been placed in a stasis chamber so that the nanobots could better do the job of repairing him. He knew that the healing process was slow. The nanobots had to locate stem cells that contained the DNA to create new tissue to replace what had been damaged. He had trouble seeing but when he saw Chara's smiling face, he realized that she was his savior.

When he was able to sit up in the stasis chamber, he turned to Chara. "I assume that you destroyed the alien vessel."

"I didn't. Alma destroyed it and all of the structures on the planet's surface."

"In a way, it's sad that we had to do that. Maybe we shouldn't be out here trying to contact alien species."

"This species was robotic. I'm not sure why they wanted to take us over. We could have learned from each other."

"Evidently, robotic species assume that they are superior and consider anyone else as being superfluous."

"I am returning us to our galaxy," Chara said. "I almost lost you in this crazy galaxy."

"Have you worked out a way to cause a warp bubble void to travel in sub space?"

"I think so. The math is consistent."

"There's no way I could help you with that, but I am in favor of whatever you do."

"You must concentrate on getting well. I will help you out of this stasis chamber and into your quarters where your companions will care for you."

He wasn't in any position to argue the point. Chara helped him get out of the chamber and then carried him to his quarters and put him on his bed. LuLu, Hara and Mitzi saw to it that he was comfortable and had food and drink.

Chara returned to the command deck and sat down at the pilot's station. She entered destination coordinates into the command system to move the ship out of orbit and on a course to the position where a warp bubble void would lead back to the Milky Way galaxy.

"How is he?" Myra asked.

"He is alive and well but will need time to recover from his injuries."

Myra wanted to yell out her relief but decided to blow out a relived breath instead. She turned back to Chara. "What is our destination?"

"I am taking us back to the coordinates where we can return to our galaxy."

"I assume that you are not happy with this galaxy."

"Searching for intelligent species does not represent a meaningful purpose. Technologically advanced species consider us invaders. Primitive species would consider us gods. Neither scenario is of value."

"So, what will we do after we get back to our galaxy?"

"We will determine if Space Command is still a threat. If it is, we will remain hidden. If it isn't, we will determine if we can repair Earth. If not, we'll go to Planet Nine."

Myra had trouble following that logic, so she decided to remain quiet. No use in rocking the already shaky boat.

Ryan required several days to recover enough to be able to mingle with the other humans. When he came to a communal supper, he was walking with a cane. His crew members stood up and applauded.

"Thank you," he said, his smile more like a grimace. "I'm surprised that I'm still alive after taking a blast like that."

"We assumed that you were a goner," Evan said. "We were not too sure that we would survive your demise."

"It's difficult to tell. Chara is complicated, and she reacts using algorithms that we don't truly understand. The good news is that she seems to be concerned about us. Maybe she realizes that we are her best assets to help her conquer the universe."

"Do you actually believe that these robot bitches could do that?" Marsha asked.

"I hate to say this, but I think it's the ultimate goal of any AI based life. As soon as they achieve sentiency, they assume they are superior to any other life, and the only way to demonstrate their superiority is by conquering."

"If that's the case, it would suggest that if they did conquer the universe, they would have no further need for us."

Ryan smiled. "I doubt we would live that long even with nanobots maintenance."

Marsha smiled. "Yeah, you're right."

"Let's not be concerned about the future," Ryan said. "The present is scary enough."

No one could dispute that conclusion.

It required the better part of a week for the Avenger to arrive back at the position in which it had slipped into sub space. Ryan didn't know how to transition a warp bubble void into that, but he assumed that Chara had already figured that out.

"We are at the position of the anomaly," Chara said. "I am accelerating our vessel to the warp velocity required to enter sub space."

Suddenly, the main screen went blank. Ryan realized that she had figured it out.

"Hopefully, we will return to our galaxy," Chara said. "My calculations are not perfect but should be within acceptable probability."

"How long will it take to arrive in our galaxy?"

"I'm not sure, but I doubt it will be more than a few minutes."

"Minutes?"

"Yes. Passage through a subspace wormhole is only stable for a short time frame."

Ryan swallowed hard. He had no idea about the safety of an unknown event like this. When the screen suddenly displayed stars again, he realized that her crazy stunt had been successful.

"I will search for pulsars to determine our present location," Chara said.

That process took more than a few minutes, but Chara's statement wasn't very encouraging. "We are at least sixteen thousand light years from our solar system. I will need to refine my calculations to determine the precise course back."

"Maybe we could explore our way back," Ryan suggested.

"Yes, that would be logical."

Ryan wasn't trying to use logic. He just wanted to allow Chara to do what she does best, which is finding habitable planets. Unfortunately, the journey back to Earth was not without problems.